The challenge

As school systems in the US struggle to fund programs and services, teens are left with access to limited resources to help guide their plans for the future. Agencies, both not-for-profit and for-profit, provide tools, questionnaires and information, but few do so in a way that takes the unique preferences of this digital-native generation to heart. American Student Assistance set out to create a planning tool, called Futurescape, which would be highly engaging to teens, providing them with valuable resources to make informed decisions to achieve their education and career goals.

What we did

Our approach was multi-faceted. We first carried out a large, independent online survey with middle schoolers and teens in the US. With this, we helped ASA understand teens deeply – their thoughts and struggles, their successes, sources for advice they trust, among many other topics. We also engaged 90 teens in a week-long online community to dig deeper on these topics and create a video summary for key stakeholders at ASA, bringing them closer to their audience. In parallel, we hosted focus groups with teens to review early designs of the tool itself which informed further design planning.

The impact of the research

Guided by insights from the research, Futurescape has been launched and is helping teens navigate toward their future. Marketing efforts are underway, with Kadence continuing to support American Student Assistance by tracking ongoing awareness and perceptions to understand how well marcomms around the tool are working. What’s more, ASA has leveraged what they’ve learned through social media posts and more formal reports, supporting their position as a respected thought leader.

Kadence International is a partner that has done well in understanding our business needs and driving to the best possible solution. Everyone from the outside design firm to my internal product partners are extremely appreciative and impressed with the level of insights and access to the teen perspective that you’ve provided. With Kadence, I am able to trust the project will turn out great because I know the quality of work your team delivers for me.

American Student Assistance

The challenge

While Singapore Management University (SMU) has been clear/strong in their positioning/marketing of their undergraduate program, the nature and content of the Post-Graduate Program (both Masters and Doctorate) is fundamentally different, which meant that there was a need to investigate whether there are any existing brand attributes that can be similarly extended to the Post-Graduate Program, and find resonance with past and current students, as well as potential applicants.

What we did

The broad scope of the study, across respondent types and geographies, meant that the research approach needs to be tailored accordingly as well.

For the Post-Graduate Program track, in Singapore, 2 focus groups were conducted with alumni and current students, while 6 employers of Post-Graduate Program graduates were interviewed on the telephone to gather their thoughts on working with the SMU Post-Graduate Program candidates. Online surveys were also circulated amongst the SMU Post-Graduate faculty to get their perceptions of the various brand attributes. Outside of Singapore, online surveys were done with current students and alumni, as well as prospective students. For the Post-Graduate Program track, phone interviews were carried out with employers and peers of the graduates from the program, while an online survey was conducted with alumni as well.

The impact of the research

Findings from the study provided guidance to the university, by calling out which of the internal branding attributes resonated most with the various stakeholders. This, in turn, made next steps clearer, and they were able to proceed with their plans to reinforce Post-Graduate branding in the future.